BYM queries for 2014:

• What supports the life of the Spirit in your Meeting community? What challenges and troubles are you facing? In what ways is the Meeting less than you would wish it to be?
• How does your Meeting nurture the spiritual life of members and attenders? How does your Meeting help Friends live into right relationship, “a state of harmony and balance with ourselves and our families, our communities, our government, and the world that sustains us all.”
• Is your Meeting as diverse as you would like it to be? How do you prepare newcomers for full participation in the life of the Meeting? What do you do to actively encourage and support the ministry and community participation of Friends of all ages—from Young Adult Friends, to families and young children, to elder Friends?
• How do you reach beyond the boundaries of your Meeting to strengthen Meeting practices and share the wisdom your Meeting has to offer? Do you have relationships with other Monthly Meetings? A Quarterly Meeting? Do you reach out to BYM or other Monthly Meetings when facing a challenging situation?

Patapsco Meeting of the Society of Friends

Spiritual State of the Meeting, 2014:
Draft for Review Prior to Presentation at Meeting for Business

Supporting the Life of the Spirit Continue reading Spiritual State of the Meeting Report – 2014 →

“What is Quaker faith?  It is not a tidy package of words which you can capture at any given time and then repeat weekly at a worship service.  It is an experience of discovery which starts the discoverer on a journey which is life-long.”

—Elise Boulding

During the past year, we have felt guided and supported in discovery, sharing our individual journeys and discerning our path as a community. Friends sense that we are being spiritually drawn together to build an inclusive, welcoming, and safe faith community.  One Friend described what has taken place in PFM this past year as a “coming together”—an intangible synergy among our many expressions of community life.

What supports the life of the Spirit in our meeting community?  How is the presence of Spirit apparent?

Our spiritual community was nurtured in many ways throughout the year. Our sense of fellowship deepened through an overnight Spring Retreat in the woods at a Quaker camp. Several Friends offered workshops, but the highlight was Continue reading Spiritual State of the Meeting Report – 2013 →

Approved 6/2/2013

How does the Spirit prosper among us?
The Spirit has been with us as a wise counselor, a loving presence, a prompter of caring actions, and as a weaver and mender of our Quaker community. Spiritual leanings and messages that seemed to transcend all others during the year came from the queries on Caring for One Another, namely:

• In what ways do I show respect for that of God in every person?
• Do I reach out to those in distress? If I find this difficult, what holds me back?
• Am I comfortable making my own needs known to my Meeting? Continue reading Spiritual State of the Meeting Report – 2012 →